I remember learning in elementary school that at some point in their history, the Greeks were building hollow columns to support their building, because they thought that hollow columns would provide ...

While I was at university in the late 1970s, I was told by a faculty advisor that the Greek rowers at the Battle of Salamis were given cushions that greatly increased their comfort and efficiency (and ...

I've read that Philip II of Macedon said that if he had listened to Demosthenes, he would have declared war on himself.
Ref. (it's an old book, and in Spanish): Historia de la literatura griega, 2, ...

Generally, is believed that the Minoan civilization on Crete was peaceful and their culture was more like a culture of peace than a culture of war.
But I've read an article lately that suggests that ...

I have been reading a very interesting graphic novel by Hitoshi Iwaaki which is about Eumenes.
It starts of by saying that Eumenes was not a Greek by birth, but was born in a tribe called Scythians. ...

I’ve gathered that ancient Greeks and Romans watered their wine heavily, up to 90% water. Roman-era Talmudic sources speak of wine not being fit to drink until it had been watered (although mixtures ...

First of all I wonder whether the British headdress in India was somehow designed to resemble the headdress of the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Bactrians? For example, this is the image of Eucratides I, the ...

I would like to know if there are any documents telling us how common (or if it even existed) among people in polytheistic societies (like ancient Greece, Rome, etc.) it was to believe that there is ...

I´m interested in Mycenae but have no background in archaeology, so my question is: Did the ancient writer like Thucydides, Herodot etc. write about the Minoic and/or Mycenaean time as well? If not, ...

Obviously, one of the central facts of Homer's Iliad was confirmed when archaeologists found Troy.
But were there any other details of Iliad (such as existance of Atreidae dynasty, Agamemnon actually ...

Excavations on the hill of Kydonia, near Chania in Crete, where the third largest palace of the Minoan civilization was, revealed a small area fenced by rocks in the yard, with many animal bones and ...

Greece has been subject to many many invasions since the 7th century and there must have been a serious mixing of peoples. In a similar situation, we do not usually consider the French or the Germans ...

In 406BC, the Athenian fleet reported a great victory against the Spartans', near the Arginusae Islands. After the battle, allegedly because of a storm, the generals failed to rescue their comrades at ...

This question has been confusing me for a while. Was Alexander the Great Greek or Macedonian?
He was born in Pella, Macedonia, but is he considered Greek? Did nationality and ethnicity mean different ...

I find it quite diffucult to find reviews of academic books on various subjects, especially for books in the english language.
In Denmark we have a service where we can search almost any book academic ...

While researching the orphism question I came across a mention of the Derveni Papyrus. While its content is highly interesting, I got curious as to how a papyrus showed up in 4th century BCE Macedonia ...

As a beginning student of Chinese I am also learning a bit more about Chinese history. As such I am more-and-more impressed by the quality of thought that has been left behind by Chinese philosophers ...

I watched Frank Miller's 300 last night with my girlfriend, and after the movie ended she mentioned the assassination attempt against Xerxes would have been a great plot element for the movie and that ...

There are some instances when barbarian names were romanized in order to be similar to already existing Roman or Greek names. Just some examples that come to mind:
Hebrew Martha -> Marta ("of Mars")
...

A few articles (such as "Misconceptions about Medieval Medicine: Humors, Leeches, Charms, and Prayers") state that Hippocrates observed that blood, when removed from the body, would separate into four ...

This question is inspired by an answer to: When did homosexuality become unacceptable in Europe?
I have heard from many people that pedophilia was widely practiced in ancient Greek or Roman cultures. ...

In his comparison of the Roman form of government with those of other states, Polybius mentions Mantineia as having one which had been praised by almost all historians. However, he does not go into ...